Highlights

Vijay Goel attributes BJP win in MCD polls to choice of new candidates

Managed to end anti-incumbency by changing sitting corporators, he said

BJP, which has held the MCD for 10 years, has improved on his performance

Union Minister Vijay Goel attributed his party BJP's huge victory in the Delhi civic polls to its strategy to beat anti-incumbency by choosing almost all new candidates. He also said Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) "won more seats than expected" due to the work of some of its lawmakers in its two years in power. On the Congress, he echoed colleague Harsh Vardhan and said the party's "revival is a good sign" as it has a better political culture.

The BJP, which has held the MCD for 10 years, has improved on his performance.

But Mr Goel admitted that the party had been worried.

"There was bit of anti-incumbency due to non-delivery by some corporators. By changing all sitting corporators, the BJP managed to end anti-incumbency," he said.

Attacking AAP's campaign to prove that faulty EVMs or Electronic Voting Machines were behind the BJP's major victory, Mr Goel said that the "Congress revival is a good sign as it has a better political culture".

Similar words were used by another senior BJP leaders, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan. "The Congress has revived itself. Congress revival is a good sign, there should be a strong opposition," Dr Harsh Vardhan told NDTV, describing the Congress as "more dignified" than AAP.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi or MCD results, he said, signal the end of the style of politics followed by AAP and its chief Arvind Kejriwal.